walking daily in the shadow of the cross

I miss blogging. So I’m getting back in the game. Along with that comes the desire for some degree of consistency… so each Friday I plan on compiling a few of the best articles/blogs I’ve come across each week in order to pass them along to you. Here’s the first installment.

A Teenager’s View on Social Media Andrew Watts (social media, technology, teen life)
“Facebook is something we all got in middle school because it was cool but now is seen as an awkward family dinner party we can’t really leave. It’s weird and can even be annoying to have Facebook at times. That being said, if you don’t have Facebook, that’s even more weird and annoying.”

Do You Believe God Will Save Your Kids Tim Challies (parenting, family discipleship, entrusting your kids to God)
“I do what is right before my children as God opens my eyes to see the right: I teach them the Bible, I help them construct a Christian worldview, I tell them all about Jesus, and I involve them in a Christian community. Mostly I just plain love them in a way that reflects God’s love for me. I don’t do all this in order to accrue favor, but because these are the means God uses to save his people, to expose them as sinners and to reveal the Savior.”

The Only Question in Youth Ministry That Matters Tim Downey (youth ministry, lasting faith, salvation)
“I believe there is only one question that needs to be answered when it comes to youth ministry. Sounds simplistic, doesn’t it? It is a very simple question, yet the answer has profound implications for youth workers, parents, and students alike. The question is this: How will we move students towards ownership of and perseverance in their faith?”

13 Ways You Waste Your MoneyTim Challies (money, stewardship, saving $$)
“I especially look for places we are spending money we don’t need to spend—bills that are too high, subscriptions we no longer need, and all of those little money-wasters that eventually add up. And over the years, I’ve collected quite a list of ways that we, and perhaps you, waste money.”

Baptizing “Masculinity”: The Real Reason Men are Leaving the Church Luke T. Harrington (men, ministry, philosophy, theology)
“Most men, in my experience, prefer to access their emotions through ideas, while most women prefer to access their ideas through emotions. This is not a claim that one approach is “superior” to the other — obviously, both feelings and ideas are indispensable to our humanity — but just that they are different, and, for whatever reason, evangelicalism tends to favor the “female” approach.”

Mummy Mask May Reveal Oldest Fragment of the Gospel of MarkJoe Carter (Bible, archaeology, reliability of Scripture)
“A text found on papyrus used on a mummy mask may be the oldest copy of a gospel known to exist—a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that was written during the first century, before the year AD 90. Until now, the oldest surviving copies of the gospel texts date to the second century (the years AD 101 to 200).”